Well exactly, Victor is now a major liability, he's been spotted at Gale's murder crime scene, plus the fact he's picked up Walt's cook recipe (or enough of it) gives him some major leverage if he gets caught and decides to bargain: "Walt and Gus are cooking the blue meth, I know cause here's how they do it..."
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The Wandering Dev ManagerOct 21 '13 at 12:50

All the questions I would like to answer about BB are protected because of low quality answers? I don't have enough rep to see the deleted posts, but what I do see are good posts. . . sigh I can't contribute and answer one myself (sad face)
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Mari-Lou AApr 17 at 7:00

8 Answers
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I've always assumed it's because Gus knows that Victor was seen at the house (the house where Gale Boetticher was murdered by Jesse Pinkman) -- remember that Victor and Mike had a conversation about the fact that he'd been seen (Mike was upset at it, and Victor didn't think it was that big of a deal). Gus isn't one to leave any possibility that he could be discovered by Victor's carelessness, so he knows it has to be done.

Of course, he does it in the way that he does as a power play, hoping that the shock of it will convince Walt and Jesse to fall in line (i.e. "Hey guys, if I'm willing to kill my trusted assistant because he screwed up, do you really think I won't do it to you if it comes to that?")

Just before Gus kills Victor, Walt monologues about how Victor is not as good of a cook, how he needs Jesse alive to help him cook, etc

Gus's subsequent actions act as a punishment to Victor for being substandard, while simultaneously yet silently "accepting" Walt's request to leave Jesse alive.

The act of Gus slicing Victor's throat demonstrates his ruthlessness and willingness to "just get the job done", which serves as a message for Walt and Jesse, that he won't accept excuses or messing around. Gus eyes them both up afterwards to ensure they understand their place and then leaves.

There is no need for Victor to be killed. In fact for a person who takes fastidious care of his employees it is a very bad move. Victor being seen was not that big a deal. He might even have been able to manufacture Meth. At least he would have been useful as a reminder that Walter is not indispensable. There is absolutely no need for him to be killed. However, if you were writing the scene, how would you have it resolved? Gus comes in and just tells Walter to go back to work? Just admitting that he had been outsmarted? Gus picks up a cutter but then does not actually does anything with it? The writers went with the shock and drama that the sudden killing of Victor produced.

Victor probably needed to die anyway. He had screwed up by failing to kill Walt and had also gotten himself seen after the Gale murder

To send a message, as we are lead to believe at the time. Either to scare Walt/Jesse or to send a message to Mike; it could even be both.

There is another possible reason mentioned in Season 5 Episode 3:

I've been thinking about Victor. All this time, I was sure that Gus did what he did to send me a message. Maybe there's another reason. Victor trying to cook that batch on his own, taking liberties that weren't his to take. Maybe he flew too close to the sun and got his throat cut. - Walt

Someone had to be killed by Gus Fring to show that he wasn't a man to be trifled with and because his plans to use Gale and eliminate Walt and Jesse had been circumvented. With only five people in the room, who else could he have killed?

He needed Walt - After all, Gale was backup for Walt and Gale was now dead.

He couldn't kill Jesse - He knew or strongly believed that Walt would not cook without Jesse and he couldn't afford to be wrong about that.

He couldn't kill Mike - Not only was Mike the de facto underboss of his criminal organization, he had also shown himself to a very deadly opponent and Fring knew this. In fact, it's a tossup between Walt and Mike as to the one who the most immune to Fring's anger on that occasion.

He obviously wasn't going to kill himself.

That left Victor.

Killing Victor offered the greatest amount of shock value with the least amount of damage to Fring and his criminal organization. Victor certainly didn't help his case by speaking as it focused Fring's attention and anger upon him. However, it's likely that he would have been killed anyway as Fring needed to make a point.

Some points from me. Victor was a very loyal and dedicated team member, and Gus being a man of reason must have had a strong motive to eliminate him. There was a pause before he killed he when he thought this through, so that's definitely not an impulse.

Who is responsible for Gale's death? Most probably it's Victor because he is the only one from the gang who's been on the crime scene. Of course, he's been outsmarted by Walt, but for Gus this might not be an excuse.

Victor giggled at a very tense moment + his is the one responsible, he does not understand he should not do the giggles, so for Gus this could be a sort of immature behavior which makes him look very stupid having such a team member.

In mafia you don't start speaking before your boss in such moments, because it lowers your bosses rank. Remember how the same situation ended in the very first season with Tuco and his hitman? Even asking seems awkward, not to mention that Victor made a statement.